Security systems that provide for authorized access to a secured area through use of an electronic key are known. Various of the present assignee""s patents and applications detail electronic keys useful in various site security applications.
These keys, and others, are commonly used by suppliers to make after-hours deliveries to their customers (e.g., french fries to restaurants, auto parts to car dealerships, etc.). After-hours pickups can likewise be made.
Typically, the door lock at the customer premises is electronic. The delivery driver couples the electronic key to the lock, and manipulates the key so as to unlock the lock (e.g., by entering a PIN number). The driver can then open the door and make the delivery. (In other cases, the door lock is conventional, i.e., mechanical. Such installations commonly have a small vault mounted near the door containing a mechanical door key secured on a short tether. The vault has an electronic lock and is unlocked by the driver with the electronic key. The driver can then access the mechanical key and use it to open the adjoining door.)
One advantage of such electronic keys is that they typically include a memory for logging access data (e.g., IDs of accessed locks, time of access, etc.). This data can then be downloaded into a database so as to document which driver made a delivery to which customer at which time. (Various known coupling techniques can be used to download the data from the key to a computer on which the database is maintained, e.g., infrared coupling, magnetic coupling, inductive coupling, capacitive coupling, electrical contacts coupling, etc.)
The foregoing functionality is improved by integrating into the key an optical scanner so that, e.g., the delivery driver can use a common device both for access and inventory tracking. One particular type of optical scanner is a bar code reader used for reading bar code information, as is widely used today. The bar code inventory data scanned into the key is downloaded into a databasexe2x80x94either with the access data or separatelyxe2x80x94to provide further detail about the deliveries.